Challenges in providing services in methadone maintenance therapy clinics in China: Service providers’ perceptions

Lin, Chunqing; Wu, Zunyou; Rou, Keming; Pang, Lin; Cao, Xiaobin; Shoptaw, Steven; Detels, Roger

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.09.002

« Previous Next »International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume 21, Issue 3 , Pages 173-178, May 2010

Challenges in providing services in methadone maintenance therapy clinics in China: Service providers’ perceptions

Chunqing Lin
- School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
- Corresponding author at: Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. Tel.: +1 310 910 9707; fax: +1 310 794 2495.
Zunyou Wu
- National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Keming Rou
- National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Lin Pang
- National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Xiaobin Cao
- National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
Steven Shoptaw
- Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
Roger Detels
- School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

Received 20 July 2009; received in revised form 23 August 2009; accepted 9 September 2009. published online 09 October 2009.

Abstract

Background

The Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) program has been initiated in China since 2004. As of the end of November, 2008, 558 MMT clinics had been established countrywide. The objective of this study was to elucidate the difficulties and challenges as perceived by service providers working in MMT clinics.

Methods

One service provider from each of the 28 MMT study clinics in Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces of China participated in a face-to-face in-depth interview for about 1–2h to describe their perceptions of working in MMT clinics. Qualitative data were analysed using ATLAS.ti. The grounded theory was used to guide the data analysis.

Results

Participants identified major problems in providing services in MMT clinics including lack of resources, professional training, and institutional support. Difficulties in pursuit of career, concern for personal safety, low income, heavy working load, and poor opinion of MMT by Chinese society often contributed to greater stress and burnout among the service providers.

Conclusion

The MMT programs in China desperately need additional resource allocation and institutional support for the current and perhaps future expansion of the programs. The service providers are in urgent need of professional training to improve the quality of care they can offer MMT clients.

Keywords: Methadone Maintenance Therapy, China, Qualitative, Service providers